My sister gets married in less than 4 weeks (August 23rd) and I am the maid of honor. I tried on the bridesmaid dress at David's Bridal and ordered it way back before I went to Quilt Market (sometime in May) and it fit perfectly (well, it was a little tight but I figured if I lost a couple of pounds before the wedding, it would look HOT!) The dress came in the day before we went to on our FL vay-cay. I just picked it up in a huge hurry, didn't try it on and just stuck it in the closet.

Well, you probably know where this is going... Two nights ago, when my mom & sister were here, I put on the dress... or should I say, tried to put on the dress... for my mom to see how cute (NOT!) I looked in it. I couldn't even zip it up!!! (sob). I looked at the tag to see if they had mistakenly given me the wrong size but nope, it was the size I ordered. So I pulled out the scale (I haven't stepped on this thing in weeks!) and I was a good 8-10 lbs. heavier than when I went to Market. (SOB!) What do I do??? I needed to lose 2 lbs. but instead I gained about 10! It is waaaay to late to get the thing exchanged (since they were special-order) and there is no way to alter it (I could take it in but there's no way to let it out!) WAAAAAAA!

On another note, I totally missed my 200th post. It was 2 posts ago, but I guess I was a bit pre-occupied. Oh well! Today is the first day of "back to normalcy" here in the MODKID household. The girls returned from FL last week and my mom stayed with us until yesterday, and in between then & now we've had a flurry of activities, including (but not limited to) a birthday party, a weekend trip to St. Louis, a bridal shower and a visit to the local water park. Oh, and of course, the modgreetings launch, which by the way, thanks so much for all the wonderful comments and your purchases. I have a couple of wholesale inquiries already, plus one more local store that wants to carry them, so that's great news! :)

My mom, my sister and my niece all left yesterday and now it's just the 4 of us... for the first time since, well, June! WOW! Sophie actually asked me last night "So, is it just gonna be us from now on?" heeeheee... KIDS! Gotta love them! :)

So, speaking of the bridal shower, I made these super cute personalized favor boxes for the attendees using one of my Andalucia designs, "Jester" in the Aqua colorway (which just happens to be her wedding color!)

I searched & searched the internet for a good favor box template (and I did download a couple) but they were all too small or just not shaped right, and I wanted to fill these to the brim with chocolates. So I made up my own template. It worked out perfectly. I even made a little sleeve for the Hershey mini's (hmmmm... in hindsight, I probably should have stayed off the Hershey minis and maybe I could still fit into my bridesmaid dress... sigh!)

So, anyway, I will be putting together a sweet little tutorial (with plenty of step-by-step pictures, of course) on how to make these. It will include a PDF download template for the box with or without the Jester pattern. Hope you guys are into that kind of stuff... we had the best time assembling these last week!

So, I will leave you now. If anyone has a great crash diet tip, please leave a comment. Hey, all you Cook It. Blog It! members... please send me links to any low-fat recipes you may have, or some sort of lose-12-pounds-in-4-weeks diet plan or something. I am allergic to exercise but I guess I can make an exception and maybe take some Claritin for this occasion. ;) I promised my sis I would run on the treadmill 1 hr. every night but I already broke my promise once. :(

19 comments:

Ah, it's not an impossible ask - just not a pleasant one! Women lose most weight by interval training- push your heart rate up for ten minutes, then let it settle , then repeat. My trainer says 40 minutes......Just don't fast, as your body will go in to starvation mode and you'll actually put on weight. I feel for you girl!

Sorry to say, but you gotta work it! I tried it two months ago, and I am down 22 lbs. I ordered Jilian Michaels 30 day shred (checkout Amazon) and bought some 3lbs weights from Target. The workouts will leave you numb, I mean really numb. But you will see results after one week.

Mistakes that you can learn from my experience:

Drink 2 litters of water EVERYDAY (I know, increase in bathroom breaks). Your body will retain alot of water the first 2-3 days of increased activity. The less water you consume, the more your body retains water. After the initial start-up period, your body will adjust to the increase in activity and water consumption and you should see a reduction in water gain.

Increase your dairy intake. Not vitamin D, but good old fashion dairy (make sure its non-fat or reduced fat). Eat at least 2 servings a day (I eat yogurt every morning and a cup of 2% milk with my cereal). Without being to graphic, dairy helps your body have "efficient;y" bawl movements. Why is this important? The food that you eat gets "moved" faster outside of your body, which has a direct impact in weight loss.

Don't skip a meal. Eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. Your metabolism will sky rocket if it's "fired" up all the time. I literally plan my meals every week now. The weeks that I don't, I end up eating crap, like today I at Potbellys(enough said).

Find a local day spa the morning of the wedding. Get a body wrap that takes away inches. It's magical, but the inches will come back in a day or two. But it will get you in that dress and keep you from being the naked bridesmaid!

Those favor boxes and minis are very cute! I did decorative wrappers for large hershey almond bars when my sister got married in 1999 and everyone loved them. Can't wait to see your template for future use! As far as the diet thing goes, I would love to lose 10+, too, but also hate exercise. Basically, cut out fats, sweets and portion control. No fun at all, but you can do it in 4 weeks!

I lost 20 pounds in about 2 months just cutting extra salt, sugar, and oil from my diet. I bought no-salt-added canned veggies, or used fresh, ate all lean meats (turkey/chicken breast, tilapia, etc), and used Splenda or Diabetisweet when recipes called for sugar; cooked in water or no-salt chicken broth, as opposed to oil. Still ate 5-6 times a day, every 3 hours or so. 2 oz protein with every meal. 100oz of water a day. I also cut processed carbs (bread, pasta, etc), but ate potatoes, rice, rice pasta, oatmeal, etc.

My very first week doing it, I dropped 9 pounds. That was without working out.

OMG, girl! There are experts that will contradict each other all day long on trendy what's good and bad about dieting. I say, just plain common sense will keep you out of those traps. If you are about to put something in your mouth that is "questionable" (you know what I mean, processed grains, desserts, soda, BEER- Sorry, Jon) then your common sense will kick in.

It's all about making good choices and keeping your portions small (several small meals per day). Do not try to clear your plate (or your kids' plates). Even if it seems like a waste of money to throw away uneaten food, it's better put away for a later meal or in the garbage than in your belly.

And do the darned treadmill. I know you hate it, but if you are going to do your "dance party" idea instead, set a timer and do not wimp out before the hour. Remember how we used to "club" for hours back in the day? One hour of vigorous dancing every night should not be too much. If you are not sweating at the end, you are not dancing HOT enough! Hee Hee!

I love you! You can do it! I will be doing it right along with you (though in a different state)

Thanks everyone for your helpful and encouraging comments! Alicia & Caty... so nice to see you around here... thanks for your suggestions!!!

I like FunkyKim's magical body wrap idea... hee heee... hmm, no diet or exercise? I'm there! but does it really work?!? I'm a bit skeptical.

I've started my diet & exercise routine already. Last night I did 1/2 hr. on the treadmill and burned 162 calories (hey, that was my whole breakfast!) :) And I ate lots of fruits & veggies all day... and no carbs! WAAAAA!

Today all I've had is a fat-free yogurt & a glass of water. Off to make lunch... hmmmm... chicken soup? or maybe tuna w/out mayo??? ACK!

Oh man Patty. It will suck but you can do it. A (mostly) safe rate of weight loss is 5 lbs a week. You can't sustain that rate for long or it starts to really tax your body.There are lots of "cleanse" type diets out there that will do the trick but ya gotta be careful, they also lack nutrients your body needs. Kinda dangerous. Plus your body can go into conserve mode, thinking it is starving & holding onto every last calorie. Your metabolism will really slow down (think caveman during a famine).The two diets that will work for your time frame and are safe are Adkins and South Beach. They are both based on a similar concept, regulating blood sugar and insulin levels. You gotta hit it hard and be really strict, exercising and lots of the dreaded water! These diets don't always work because people don't stick with it. Or they go right back to eating the way they did before the diet and SUPRISE, the weight comes right back.Now you probably want to know, "Did it work for you?". Nope. I lack the motivation and drive. I am a quitter. I last about 2 days on a diet. That's why those 20 lbs are still hanging around on my belly & hips!

I have some great recipes that are really great sides to accompany some basic ol' grilled chicken (I'm not the biggest fan of meat but I eat it because it's good for you!).

I LOVE sides, especially when they are full of veggies. I'm hoping to post an Avocado Salad recipe (basically a deconstructed guacamole recipe) and even though that sounds fattening, it's really not when you make it a side dish to some spice-rubbed grilled chicken. It is so full of flavor that you feel like you are cheating!!

I don't believe in dieting (I struggled for years with body image) OR looking at a scale. Scales don't tell you anything but a number! And just like us women don't like to be categorized by our age, there is no reason to add another number...our weight!! Drink LOTS of water (I know you don't like to hear that but it is your biggest friend for being healthy, feeling great and losing weight!) and walk after a meal for about 10-15 minutes. You could get in a 45 minute walk in a day and not even realize it!!

Oh - so feelin' your pain! I, too, have REALLY enjoyed my summer! I recommend the Abs diet for Women book - written by an editor of Mens Health magazine. It contains recipes and they are pretty decent taste-wise and don't require a bunch of wacky ingredients and I didn't feel hungry all the time following this plan (unlike some others).Good luck!Missy

Patty Young

I am a lover of all things pretty and colorful. I have several fabric collections through Riley Blake, Michael Miller and Jo-Ann Fabrics. I am also a published author with C&T Publishing, with 3 sewing books and 2 coloring books. And lastly, I am the owner of MODKID, LLC which specializes in high-quality boutique-style sewing patterns. Welcome to my blog!